Page 168 - How It Works - Book Of Amazing Answers To Curious Questions, Volume 05-15

How did the Anasazi

Who built these incredible cave cities
live? in the Colorado desert?

hen European Americans fi rst
explored Chaco Canyon in New A city on the edge
WMexico in 1849 they must have How the Anasazi lived Wooden frames
thought they’d found a mythical lost city. Anasazi homes used
Against the canyon wall were the ruins of vast ponderosa pine wood
for supports.

five-storey homes, a warren of around 800 rooms Plaster
like an entire town within a single set of walls. The sandstone blocks
that made up the walls
Among the debris were ceramic cylinders and were often coated in a
broken pottery, evidence of dams and irrigation ‘plaster’ of mud.
trenches that diverted water, and a network of
roads nine metres (30 feet) wide. T-shaped door
The Anasazi, whose name comes from the T-shaped doors were a
Navajo word for ‘ancient enemies’ or ‘ancient common Anasazi motif,
ones’, built numerous similar settlements across but the signifi cance of
the Four Corners region at the intersection of them is a mystery.
what is Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado
today, from as early as the 10th century.
Then at some point before the end of the 13th
century, this mysterious culture suddenly
moved from their multi-storey ‘great houses’ Ladders
and into caves that had been carved into the The Anasazi moved
seemingly inaccessible orange-brown cliff-faces between levels with
of southern Colorado. Just as ambitious as their ladders; these could be
original homes, these cliff dwellings had several pulled up behind them
for protection.
rooms connected by ladders and walls of
sandstone blocks. By the 14th century these new
dwellings were empty too; the reason for the
Anasazi’s sudden migration may also be
responsible for their sudden disappearance.
Facing competition from other tribes over
dwindling water supplies, the Anasazi may have Kiva Roof
The Kiva roof
Meaning ‘world
gathered their scattered communities into more below’, the Kiva was contained a hole that
defensible positions – literally with their backs used as a meeting could be used as an
to the wall. From there they may have left, and ceremonial entrance and also
heading further south in search of swollen rivers room and was lined provided ventilation
for the fire pit below.

by stone benches.
or plentiful rainfall well away from the arid cliffs
and canyons of the Colorado desert.
Anasazi cliff
dwellings in the Anasazi riches
Mesa Verde An Anasazi
National Park Though the Anasazi cities and cliff turquoise pendant

dwellings are confined to a relatively small
area, this ancient Native American culture
had a network of trade that stretched as
far west as the Californian coastline and
as far south as Mexico. Thanks to their
valuable mines, the Anasazi were able to
import goods as diverse and luxurious as
parrots, seashells and copper bells from
the Gulf of Mexico in exchange for
turquoise, which was used in jewellery
and mosaics. Relics and funeral masks
made from glistening green Anasazi
turquoise have been found as far away as
the Mayan city of Chichen Itza, taking
pride of place in the elaborate tombs of
Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. © Thinkstock

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